(Newser)
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A chartered plane with a Brazilian first division soccer team on board crashed in a mountainous area near Medellin while on its way to the finals of a regional tournament, killing 76 people, Colombian officials say. Five people survived, including three players, reports Reuters. Aviation authorities say the British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline named LaMia, declared an emergency at 10pm because of an electrical failure, the AP reports. The aircraft, which had departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team to Medellin's Jose Maria Cordova International Airport. The team started the journey in Sao Paulo. A Reuters photographer described the tail section as having been severed from the plane and totally destroyed.

The team, from the small city of Chapeco, was in the middle of a fairy-tale season. It joined Brazil's first division in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s and made it last week to the Copa Sudamericana finals after defeating two of Argentina's fiercest squads, San Lorenzo and Independiente, as well as Colombia's Junior. "What was supposed to be a celebration has turned into a tragedy," Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said from the search-and-rescue command center. "May God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists, and other guests traveling with our delegation," the club said in a brief statement on its Facebook page. The Guardian reports Brazilian President Michel Temer has declared three days of mourning.

The President of Brazil now has a few days to focus on damage control.

Mr_Joshua

Nov 29, 2016 12:08 PM CST

Just throwing this out here. I'm seeing stuff on pprune by professional pilots, some who have actually flown this aircraft when owned by another company, that fuel would have been a concern. This aircraft was at the absolute max limit of it's range (Apparently, there are no direct scheduled flights between these two cities with this aircraft because of range/fuel issues. Remember, this was a private charter and some informal overloading in mountainous territory like Columbia and we have a serious lift problem Huston. "The head of Colombia's civil aviation agency, Alfredo Bocanegra, said reported comments from a female flight attendant that the aircraft had run out of fuel were being evaluated." http://news.sky.com/story/plane-thought-to-be-carrying-a-brazilian-football-team-crashes-in-colombia-10676541 The truth will out but it will take some time. And you can call me...............Mr Joshua

Phil

Nov 29, 2016 9:02 AM CST

This is a tragedy. I'm not a huge fan of soccer, but this is a horrific. I feel for the family's and God bless the survivors.